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(No Model.) W. MASON.

REVOLVING FIRE ARM.

No. 247.374. Patented Sept. 20,1881.

'ti'NtTEo STATES. PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM MASON, ()l liAlt'll Olll), (JONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR- TO THE COLTS liVl lN'll Fllill-ARMS MAXUFACTURING COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

REVOLVING FIRE-ARM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent: No. 2 17,3714, dated September 20, 1881.

A iiration nit-ti June in, tc-i. t.\o model.)

To all whom it may concern V Bait-known that.l,\'\".\t..\li\: ON,ol'llartt'ord,

in the county of Hartford and State ot (fonnecticut, have invented a new lmprovement 5 in Revolvers; and I do hereby declare the to]- lowing, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings and the letters ot ret'- crcncc marked thereon, to be a toll, char, and exact description ot' the same, and which said drawings constitute part. ol' this sptwitiration,

and represent, in-

tl ignrc l,a sectional side view; Fig. L, a par tial opposite side view; Fig. It. a. transverse section, immediately in rear ot the cylinder,

looking toward the rear.

This invention relates toan improvement in that class at revolvers which are made selfcocking, and in which the cylinder is rotated by thccocking ot' the hammer or pulling ol' the trigger.

in this clussot' pistols it is necessary to provide a lock or catch which will engage the cylinder alter its rotation and bet'orethc hammer is discharged or the trigger released, because the. pawl \\'lti('il rotates the r vlinderunavoidably drags over the ratchet as it returns for a new engagement, and unless the cylinder" be locked the lrietion ot' the pawl dragging over the ratchet will turn thceylinder backward to such an extent that the next advance of the pawl will not make engagementwith the ratchet, ot' the cylinder; hence the. cylinder would not be rotated at that next pull.

Various deviceshavc been employed to lock the cylinder at the proper time, but all are more or less complicated, and so frequently become disarranged as to make the action of the arm uncertain.

To overcome this dil'licultv is the object; 0t 40 this invention; and it", consists in employing the gate, wh ch open "rt-loses the rearendol' the cylinder t'orthe insertion or cartridges, as a pawl to engage the cylinder after each rota tive movcnu-nt, and before the pawl whichrotates the. cylinder returns, as more fully hereinat'tcr described.

A is the frame or receiver; ll, the cylinder, provided with a ratchet, u, at the rear end; thehammcr; l), the pawl,which is connected, asherorepresented, toan tutor-mediate lever, hi, all of substantially known construction, and which need no t'urthcrdcscription in this specification than to say that the pulli rig oi. the trig gel, in the act of cocking the hammer, brings thepawlintoactiveconnectionwiththcratchet, so that as the pawl rises it turns the ratchet and cylinder in the usual manner.

in th right-hand Side of tlu, receiver is the gate. i,tlt'litlifttl upon apivot, b, and so as to he turned away in a vertical plane to expose 6c the rear end of one or more chambers for the insertion of cartridges, as seen in Fig. 3. This construction or arrangement of gate is sub-' stantiallv that seen in Letters Patent granted to me January 19,1575, No. 158,957. 'tlhein- C: ner edge o; this gate, when closed, lies near the peripher ot' the ratchet a. At some point on the inner edge of the gate l make a tooth or inward proieetion f, (see l ig..,) which will extend into the path of the teeth of the rotat- 7o ing ratchet. The gate .1" is provided with a spring, /1, as seen in Fig. 3, which acts to hold itv there in its open or closed position, and to serve to bear it toward its closed position and ermit it to he moved slightly away tromthat position aml automatically returned when released, substantially as in my patent bet'ore ret'erred to; hence the teeth of the pawl pass the tooth/on the gate in themovemcntot'rotat ing the evlyinder, which will l'o1ce the gate 8 away so as to permit the teeth of the ratchet to pass the tooth then the gate will be returned by the three of its spring and come upon the opposite side of the tooth, as seen in Fig. it, and thus serve as a stop to prevent the return or latckward movement ot' the cylinder when the pawl drags down tor a' new hold. No change in construction isretptircd for this arrangement the only addition being simply the tootl1 /'on the gate. There is therefore no additional mechanism applied to the arnrto lock orstop the cvlinder; it is etl'ectively done, and cannot; get; out ot order.

l claim in a revolver, the combination ot the ratchet on thecvlindcr, and thepawl for operating the same, with the gate which opensand closes the chambers of the cylinder for the insertion or ejection of cartridges, constructed with a tooth to engage acorrespondingtoothon the ratchet I00 after each advance relative movement of tho cylinder, substantially as described.

WILLIAM MASON. 

